When you have dry flaky skin, parts of your body such as the area around the eyes, nose, feet and mouth, you may be suffering from rosacea problem. Before you start fixing it, it is important to know the causes of flaky skin around eyes, nose, feet and mouth. From this approach, you will easily get rid of the skin appearing dry and flaky.

What Causes Dry Flaky Skin?

The skin can get dry and flaky as a result of exposure to various factors that dry out the skin. This could range from household goods e.g. detergents and soaps, to environmental factors such as low humidity and temperatures (in winter) and harsh winds. Hot and long showers could also lead to dry, flaky skin as they often result in loss of skin moisture.

Dry Flaky Skin around Eyes

The skin under your eyes is typically very fragile and if exposed to harsh conditions, it can get dry and flaky. The dryness could range in intensity from mild to severe depending on the degree of exposure and underlying ailments.

Some eye makeup and skin foundation (it could be that nice eye shadow, eyeliner or mascara you apply every morning) and facial cleansers that are harsh to the skin may also trigger allergic reactions leading to contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis is characterized by an irritation of the skin and dried up skin which often flakes.

How to Know If You Have Dry Flaky Skin

When normally hydrated, the skin cells around your eyes are usually plump and feels smooth and supple, but if exposed to dehydrating conditions, these cells can become shriveled resulting in fine lines and sometimes wrinkles in the skin around your eyes. If it gets flaky, your eyelids may feel raw and scaly or even get swollen and sore. You are more at risk of getting dry flaky skin around your eyes if the rest of your skin occasionally gets dry.

Dry Flaky Skin around Mouth

If your face tends to feel tight after shower, you may also notice a dry and flaky look on the skin around your mouth. In most cases, this is a result of exposure to moisture stealing conditions. For example, the low humidity and temperatures that are characteristic of the winter months could lead to dehydration of the skin that culminates in a dry, flaky skin around the mouth.

Using harsh cleansers and soaps regularly could also dry up the area around the mouth and sometimes make the skin flaky. Allergic reaction from certain allergens is also a common cause. This can for example happen to people whose skin reacts to fluorides if they don’t rinse their mouth properly after brushing their teeth.

This problem is also likely to be seen more in older people especially those aged above 65 years as older people tend to have a drier skin, and in people who likes licking their lips. Licking the lips exposes them to the enzymes usually present in the saliva. This robs the lips of their precious moisture because leading to drying and sometimes, flaking.

Some medical conditions could also cause dry and flaky skin around the mouth. Notable among them are eczema, perioral dermatitis, and psoriasis.

Dry Flaky Skin around Nose

Dry, flaky skin around the nose is as well caused by loss of moisture in most cases, but most, if not all the causal factors for dry, flaky skin around mouth also lead to dry, flaky skin around the nose. It is thus not surprising that the two areas (nose and mouth) sometimes experience this problem concurrently.

How to Get Rid of Dry Flaky Skin

The first step in getting rid of dry flaky skin is to identify and eliminate the causal elements. One of the most likely culprits is the soap you use. Since most regular soaps remove moisture from the skin, leading to dry and flaking as a secondary problem, you should thus start by getting yourself a mild cleanser.

Nest you should restore your skin moisture using moisturizing lotions or creams. Good lotions and creams come with water-binding ingredients such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid which help to attract moisture and retain it in the skin. For dry, flaky skin, it is also a good idea to go for moisturizers with denser emollients such as shea butter. Applying petroleum jelly such as Vaseline to provide a protective barrier to your skin during winter also helps.

The skin also needs to be protected from the sun and other harsh weather conditions such a cold. A good way to do it is to invest in a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. You should also consider protecting your skin from the harsh weather, for example, by covering your head with a scarf during strong winds and covering your hands with gloves during winter.

If the skin remains dry and flaky even after all these interventions, consult your doctor as it could be an indication of a skin ailment.

Dry Red Flaky Skin on Face

Dry red flaky skin on face usually occurs as a result of mechanical and chemical damage to the skin especially following an exposure to harsh conditions e.g. cold weather, or harsh household products that dry the skin up by eroding its precious moisture. It can also occur as a response to various inflammatory processes such as allergic reactions.

Other Body Parts Commonly Affected

While dry flaky skin most commonly affect the area under the eyes, around mouth, and around the nose, it can also be experienced in other parts of the body such as hands, forehead, feet and legs, fingers and even scalp. This can happen when such areas get exposed to harsh environmental conditions particularly sunlight, low humidity and cold, strong wind etc. or when such body parts suffer from skin ailments such as eczema and psoriasis.

Rosacea Dry Flaky Skin

Rosacea is a common cause of dry skin. In fact, as The National Rosacea Society reports, dry skin is experienced by about 50 percent about half of the people suffering from rosacea. The skin around the central part of the face tends to dry out the most and often gets flaky.

However with a good treatment and moisturing regimen, dry flaky skin in rosacea patient can be controlled. Your doctor may also prescribe some medication that you will have to use after washing your face before apply the moisturizers. Ideally, your skin moisturizer should also not contain fragrances.